1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and network for configuring topology in a Fiber loop carrier-curb (FLC-C) management system (FMS), and, more specifically, a method and network for automatically discovering, displaying and automatically positioning added or deleted Network elements (NE""s) in a network map topology screen on a configuration management (CM) screens of the management system.
2. Description of the Related Art
One method for discovering a network element is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,881, NETWORK ELEMENT INCLUDING AUTOMATIC NETWORK ELEMENT IDENTITY INFORMATION REGISTRATION APPARATUS AND METHOD, issued to Hunt Christopher et al., however, only checks whether or not new network elements exist, and can not connect new network elements automatically into a star topology.
Another method is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,795, METHOD OF INITIALIZING AND UPDATING A NETWORK MODEL, issued to Kussel discloses initialization and updating a network model including forming a network topology in the form of a network graph and basing it on the object of specifying a method which can be realized by a computer program that can be processed with a short computing time, while U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,319, DYNAMIC NETWORK TOPOLOGY DETERMINATION, issued to Croslin et al., discloses a system and method for dynamically determining the physical connection topology between diverse network elements (DNEs) within a communication network. Each of the diverse network elements is audited on a periodic basis to determine the arrangement, configuration, cross-connection, and alarm status of each communication port within each of the diverse network elements in the communications network.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,086, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE TOPOLOGY OF A RECONFIGURABLE MULTI-NODAL NETWORK, issued to Liang et al., shows a multi-node network that manifests a changing topology of individual data processing nodes. An originating node transmits an initial identifier (ID) message over each interconnect link that emanates from itself. An update procedure causes the transmitter to transmit to all other nodes, the originating node entry and further causes the topology table entries received from other nodes to be entered in the topology table of the originating node, so that all nodes in the system are enabled to thereafter identify the topology of the system. U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,532, AUTOMATIC UPDATE OF TOPOLOGY IN A HYBRID NETWORK, issued to George et al., maintains topology data bases in control nodes and keeping them current in the face of changes in the network. The method further provides for the selection of a particular control node from which a particular ordinary node that obtains necessary routing information and establishes and maintains communication between the ordinary node and the selected control node. Control nodes identify adjacent control nodes, and upon determining changes in network status, such network status changes are communicated to the adjacent control nodes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,789, GRAPHIC DISPLAY OF NETWORK TOPOLOGY, issued to Besaw et al., automatically lays out and graphically displays the topology of a computer network system. The layout system retrieves a list of the nodes within the network and their interconnections from a database which can be manually built by a network administrator or automatically constructed by other software.
Other effects in the art open the configuration management menu screen; add or delete network elements on the network; notifying the management system of the addition or deletion of the network elements by the FLC-C; receive the notification signal; display the notification information at a fixed position on the configuration management map screen; and poll the corresponding network element. After automatically discovering an addition or deletion of network elements, the information is displayed at a fixed position on the screen in the network map topology of the management system. Because the network elements are displayed at a fixed position, when one or more of the network elements are added or deleted, the management system manager has to manually reorganize or reposition the network map topology for each network element, without knowledge of how many network elements were added or deleted.
In many cases, when using a graphic user interface (GUI) such as a variable visual display, or video monitor, network elements are displayed as icons on the screen. The icons usually display an identification number for each network element, and the network manager cannot be assured where to move the corresponding icons when network elements are added or deleted from the network map topology. Thus, before a network manager may review information for a particular network element, the manager inconveniently has to locate the specific icon on the screen, which may be in no particular order or location.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved network management system.
It is another object to provide a network and method to automatically discover and position network elements them in the form of a star topology on a configuration management screen of a fiber loop carrier-curb (FLC-C) management system (FMS), to allow easy access and identification of the network elements by the network managers.
By using a graphic user interface screen, a network operator provides to subscribers service for automatically discovering the configuration management and network topology of optical network units (ONU""s) in a fiber loop carrier-curb system. When a host digital terminal (HDT) or optical network unit connected to a subscriber is added to a fiber loop carrier-curb or management system (FMS), the added network element is displayed on the graphic user interface screen as an icon in a designated position of a network topology. Conversely, when a network element is deleted from the management system, its corresponding icon is removed from the network topology.
A star topology is used as the preferred network topology and configuration method in the present invention. When the star topology is displayed, the host digital terminal is located in the center of a concentric circle, surrounded by a maximum of sixteen optical network unit""s. Each optical network unit is connected to a host digital terminal and has its own assigned position in the star topology. The position of each optical network unit is determined from the configuration identification information of the optical network unit, which is automatically checked upon addition of the optical network unit to the management system. Using the identification information, the optical network unit automatically is placed in a designated position of the star topology.